!!Health4life team Thread!!!

Ok all here for motivation!!!!  

Cardio minutes

KT-195

chris-160

sheila-45

val-180

Oh Sheila, I hope your dad's fine.  Don't work yourself too hard and if you don't come back until after the holiday...make sure you all take care, ok?

Kt, my weekend was probably as crazy.  I went to the cookie exchange Friday straight from work.  It took me just short of 2 hours to get there from my job.  The weather didn't have a lot to do with it either.  I got home about 2am.  I was up by 10 and out of the house for most of the day Saturday picking up last minute gifts and stuff.  We never did make it to see Santa for Lil'V.  It doesn't look like it'll happen either.  How sad is that?  I really hope I'm wrong.  Anyway, I was so overtired Saturday night that I couldn't fall asleep.  I wrapped presents until almost 5am.  I didn't even finish either since I was so tired I was slow moving.  Yesterday we had to go odd/end shopping and pick up a little bit of groceries.  It was about 20 below with the winds!!!  When I woke yesterday morning I was so tired my eyes teared for the first hour.  Heck, at least the majority of presents are now wrapped.  I ran out of supplies.  I'll get them here while I'm at work and try to finish between tonight and tomorrow.  The last of the presents are Dh's and Lil'V's so it'll be tricky when I can finish them.

I'll have to peek in your journal to check out your goals Kt!

wow, val! You must be sooo exhausted! poor girl. I hope you were able to crash pretty early tonight. And I hope you get to take lil'v to see santa! tha'ts always so much fun.

I have a mound of gifts to wrap tomorrow when I get off work. I'm also going ot go and try and buy some ornaments for gifts. I get off work at noon so I'll have all afternoon to take care of things. I spent all night at my parent's house making cinnamon rolls. they look so good!!!

o and some great news!!!! We have our photographer booked! it's a friend from my parents'church who did her friend's daughter's wedding. We went and looked at her pics tonightand they were good. She's only $600 and gives you all the images digitally. It's so great to have that out of the way! My mom is pretty much done w/ Christmas stuff so she said she's moved onto the wedding haha. We are trying to work out a semi-menu as well. I'm excited that my mom seems more excited about thsi now. At first it seemed like she didn't really want to do much with it, but now she's more into it. Very cool!!!

I will be on here more tomorrow so you aren't in here solo!

Hey ladies!!! I hope you both had a really nice christmas! I"m anxious to get back to normal tomorrow. I don't think I've gained much weight but we'll see in the next few days. I'm definitely going to get back to being serious about losing weight though! Gotta make my 5 pounds a month goal!!

Hey girls!!!!  So things have slowed down a little finally!! *Big Breath*!!!!

So how were the holidays???  Mine were pretty good for the most part!!  Got some new Bears stuff... that's always good!!  (A little bittersweet since our season's over now... )

I'm still trying to get my CRP topic approved so I can get my proposal itself approved soon and I'm not really looking forward to starting classes... but I have about a week off... so I'm trying to enjoy it and catch up around here a little!!!

I managed to lose 6lbs this month!!! Finally some ACTUAL progress!!!  How are you doing with your 5lb a month goal KT??  I'd be happy to join you in that!!!  I changed migraine pills so I no longer have weight gain as a side effect and I really think that's what has made the difference!!!  

It's really helped with my motivation... so now I want to eat better and exercise more too... it's that whole cycle thing... once you can get it going in the right direction it works out so much better!!!

Well tomorrow is Colin's birthday.... we're gonna try out that Enchanted Castle place in Lombard... ever been there Val??  They have laser tag, go-carts, arcade, etc... so it seemed like fun... plus we got free tickets from someone!!!  

Hope you guys are doing awesome!!!   Happy New Year!!!!

happy new year!!!!

wow sheila...that is amazing! 6 pounds is such a great motivation booster. I hope that rate keeps up for you (and rubs off on me a little haha). Sounds like you still have a lot on your plate. When do you find out if your topic is approved? How was the castle?

My new years was pretty good. There were an estimated 10-15000 people where we were. You could not move. It was pretty cool. Luckily we were next to cool people haha. And I didn't drink too much so I had no problem getting up and going out with my mom today.

So now it's tme to get serious about things again. I only have 7 months and I need to lose 25 pounds. That is so doable so I just can't be making excuses and crap. I worked out 3 days this week which is a good start. I guess I should workout tomorrow too but not sure I will.

Any new years resolutions for you guys?

CONGRATS on the 6 pounds down Sheila!!  How did you enjoy the Castle?  I have been there.  It is a pretty fun place.  I never did get to do the laser tag there though.  How was that?

And Kt, that's great about the photographer!!!  Plus that your mom is now going to be able to help you out more.  That must be such a relief!!

Ok, I'm back at work, back on CC, back to everything.  I didn't want to start getting back on board until today because for me it's easier when I'm on a schedule.  So far, I'm on track.  Had my coffee...got stricter with measuring the powder creamer.  Had my oatmeal and stayed strict with my sugar.  I weighed and packed my lunch.  I haven't logged it yet but will when I finish this entry.  I did an hour of exercising last night but nothing too ambitious.  20 minutes was on the treadmill and 40 was a video off of FitTv--Body Sculpting with Gilad.  I didn't finish the video...it was an hour workout so I got more than halfway through.  I hadn't worked out since 12/17 so I didn't want to go too hard.  This morning I started off with 20 push ups and tonight I'll do a longer treadmill followed with crunches on the ball. 

Cough cough...I'm starting back at 188.6.  Yep.  *hangs head in shame*  that's a big gain.  To my defense, I had a couple limes with salt and some chips last night (to get that out of my system) so I know at least 3-4 of it is pure water.  Either way, I'll go back to Monday weigh ins for a little while as my incentive to stay good over the weekend.

I hope you guys are still around!!!!!!!!! 

yay im glad ur back val. ull get those pounds off in no time. im hanging out around 185 righ now so e are close. im aiming for 5 pounds a month. i dont want a huge goal and then get upset if i dont reach it. i cant expect big losses at this point anymore. ive been counting the cals and logging again and its been helping a lot. i think if we are all checking in with each other it will help. ill post my stats here as well s in my journal. yay for a new year and new us!

Welcome back to all of us!!  

We didn't end up going to the Castle place... Colin wanted to just play video games for most of his birthday!!  It was actually a nice break after the holidays to just hang around the house... then we went out to eat and did a little shopping with some of our Christmas money!!

I'm dreading going back to school next week... lol!!  It's been so nice to be back to staying up late and sleeping in!!!  I really hate going to bed early and getting up early!!!  I wouldn't care how busy I was if it wasn't for that!!! 

So I have today and tomorrow to finish catching up around here before I head back to work and then next week comes the full on busy schedule again... fun fun!!!  I have to present at work on Wednesday so I have to get that ready in the next couple days...

I joined a new challenge on the other site.... it just runs through the end of January... there's a new video exercise every day that you do, a bonus challenge they suggest, and then you do 30 min of your own cardio 5 days a week....  it's pretty cool so far... and a good way to keep me doing something every day!!  Plus there's prizes and stuff!! That's always a good motivator... lol!!  

Oh yeah baby!!!  I'll post my stats right with ya Kt.

Sheila, oooohhhhh, what kind of prizes??  That does sound good about the challenge...that it gives you lots of workout ideas and suggestions.  That is way helpful, especially when part of the battle is figuring out what to do.

Ok, so I went to Aldi yesterday and found more new things.  They have pre-portioned packages of grilled chicken breast chunks flavored with italian seasonings.  I think (if my memory serves me) they are about 100 cals a packet.  Each pkg has 2 single size packets.  Anyway, I also found steamer bowls of italian seasoned mixed veggies.  I figure on Wednesday I'll bring in one of each, combine them, see if adding a little italian dressing helps and have those for lunch.  It's like having a frozen entree but there's more food to it this way.  I'll have to let you guys know how it turns out.  I think it all will come to less than 300 cals...and +20g's of protein.

That sounds good Val!!!  I love pre-portioned stuff... especially when it tastes good!!  Lol!!

They're giving away 10 Ipods, Exercise stuff (water bottles, resistance bands, stability balls, etc.) and the grand prize is $500!!  That's what I'd love!!  

I really like the daily videos... at least I know I have something different and fun to do every day this month!!  And I don't have to come up with it... lol!!!

So I know you guys said you were both up... how much are you actually up??  And since when??

Ugh...well, the lowest weight I logged (before Halloween) was 167.something.  I only saw it once though and never again.  If I go by that I'm up 21 pounds.  YIKES!!!  If I go by the last weight I logged on 12/19, then I'm up 16 pounds.  Either way it's not good.  AND either way I'm not going to beat myself up about it...just get my ass back to work.  Lol 

So did you contribute to a pool of money when you entered the challenge Sheila?  How do they pay for the prizes?

Good attitude Val!!!  (Think Adam Sandler movies here*) *You can do it!!!!!

No we didn't have to contribute anything... it's run through the site itself... so I'm assuming it comes from their sponsors and advertisers and stuff... plus they also have their own store.   Totally free for us though... that's all that matters to me... lol!!!

That is great that everything is free.  You can't beat that price!!! 

Ok, so since Kt and I will be posting our daily stats in here Sheila did you want to join by posting here daily with what new exercise you did for your challenge and whatever tidbits of info you want to share on your daily achievements?

Sure!!  What kind of stats are you guys going to be posting daily??

Great!

For me, I'll be posting my calories consumed/burned/deficit and minutes exercised.  Eh, for my weight...I'll do what I've always done with you guys...post when I see movement...hopefully that'll mean only downward movement gets posted....hahahaha.

I think Kt is posting similar stuff but not exactly, right Kt?

Post whatever you want though Sheila....I'd love to see the daily things you'll be doing in your challenge.

Sure... I may be a bit sporadic in my posting... but I'd be happy to jump in!!  And actually... the daily exercise we do is a utube video so I could give you guys the link  (or you could search for Sparkpeople New You videos - they go by days - yesterday was Day 1) if you want to "play along"!!!  

Yesterday was like a cardio kickboxing thing... today is upper body... they're all just a brief thing... the idea is to slowly work all the muscle groups throughout the month and of course keep you mindful and doing at least a little something every day.

yay!!! i'm so excited to see so many posts today! i missed all of this.

sheila, that sounds like apretty good challenge! An ipod is great motivation! I hope you win something!

val, i'm so jealous that you got such a nice long break. I don't blame you for relaxing! I don't think you need to worry about the weight, once you are  back on track it will come off.

I am up about 5 pounds, and it's been that way since like early to mid november. So I guess I didn't actually gain over the holidays. My gain came from the nrolfw program and since I haven't continued witht eh program, the weight hasnt' coem off. I guess stage 2 is when you really start losing weight, but I haven't started that stage.

I've done well today, getting back on track. But I didn't go to the gym so I guess not that great. I don't really want to go to the gym b/c I know there are going ot be tons of ppl there b/c of new years resolutions adn I don't really want to deal with the crowds. So I guess I just need to work on getting some exercise done at home.

O and I'll be posting weight, body fat %, cals in, and cals out. Taht's what I post in my journal too so it'll be easy.

Yay for the new year!!!!

I wouldn't want to go to the gym this time of year either Kt.  There a handful of people I ran into today at work that mentioned they either already went to or are planning on going to the gym today.  Whew, imagine the lines at the machines!!  One even said they started counting calories recently and asked me if I knew anything about that.  That was a conversation I know he wasn't fully prepared for from talkative ole' me.  Lol!!!  I tried to keep it short but still, I know it can be overwhelming when starting off. 

I'm at about 1100 calories so far, yay!!!  I did a 40 minute treadmill workout and did about 40 minutes on the Wii Fit.  I'm not going to do the crunches on the ball after all since the Wii Fit had a couple standing ab exercises that I chose to do. 

I'll be checking in here at least one more time tonight.  I have to get more cals in me and it's already getting late.  I'm thinking peaches and cottage cheese.  Pft...who knows with me though..it'll probably end up being popcorn!  Lol

I'll double that Kt....Yay for the new year!!!

Happy New year all my beautiful friends!!!

Sorry i have not been on, I started working and thats all i do anymore, but now that the holiday over so things are slowing down =)

Anyway wanted to stop in and say HIIIIIIIIII!!

I have missed you all!!

Woa there I thought I was on the wrong page when I saw CHRISSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YAY CHRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!  How've you been??  Work?  Where?  Doing what?  How's the hub and kids?  Texas?